The present invention relates generally to vehicles, and more particularly to roof rack assemblies for vehicles.
Roof rack assemblies for securing various objects to the roofs of vehicles are well known. Typical roof rack assemblies are carrier frames fixedly attached to the roof. The roofs of many vehicles, i.e. sport utility vehicles, can be located at a relatively tall height from the ground and therefore are difficult to reach. In this regard, it may be somewhat cumbersome for an individual to lift an item over his head, place it onto the roof of the vehicle, and secure it to the roof rack assembly.
A proposed solution that allows objects to be more easily mounted to a roof of a vehicle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,874 (hereinafter referred to as the '874 patent). The '874 patent discloses a roof rack assembly for use in combination with the roof of a vehicle and a rear portion of the vehicle. The roof rack assembly includes a pair of elongated support rails fixedly attached to the roof of the vehicle. The rails have a moveable rack member that is moveably coupled thereto. This rack member can be moved between a “roof-mounted” position in which the rack member is substantially parallel to the roof and a “back end-mounted” position in which the rack member is substantially parallel to the back end.
The elongated rails extend over the rear edge of the roof so as to allow the rack member to move between the “roof-mounted” position and the “back end-mounted” position without interference from the top rear edge of the vehicle.
A drawback of this roof rack assembly is that the rear ends of these elongated rails can interfere with the proper operation of a rear liftgate of the vehicle. Rear liftgates are typically integrated within sport utility vehicles and minivans. These liftgates ordinarily swing open or closed on two or more hinges that are located at the top rear edge of the vehicle. As mentioned above, the rails disclosed in the '874 patent extend over the edge of the roof. In this regard, the rails may obstruct the movement of the rear liftgate and prevent the rear liftgate from being fully opened. Moreover, if the liftgate were opened, the rails may damage the rear liftgate or the rear window integrated within the liftgate. Such results clearly are undesirable.
Another drawback of this roof rack assembly is that the construction of the moveable rack member typically lacks mounting structures that are positioned in a sufficient number of orientations. For example, the construction of the moveable rack member can be substantially planar. In this regard, the moveable rack member can lack mounting structures that extend substantially perpendicularly from the plane in which the remaining structure is primarily located.
Furthermore, the rack member can lack a sufficient quantity of mounting structures for securing cargo to the vehicle. For instance, the rack member can merely include a pair of elongated tube members and four traversing cross members attaching the tube members together.
For these reasons, an individual may be required to meticulously position an item on the rack member within a precise location for properly securing the item to the relatively few mounting structures of the rack member. Moreover, this construction may even completely prevent smaller items from being mounted to the rack member. As a result, the construction of the rack member clearly is disadvantageous.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an easily accessible roof-mounted carrier assembly for permitting relatively easy attachment of various items thereon, as well as for utilizing the carrier assembly on a variety of vehicles, i.e. vehicles with rear liftgates.